WWEekly: The Top Talking Points of RAW, SmackDown and NXT (7.8 – 7.10.19)

WWEekly: The Top Talking Points of RAW, SmackDown and NXT (7.8 – 7.10.19)

It’s go home week for Extreme Rules and that means it’s do or die for WWE to sell this show. RAW and SmackDown were used as vehicles to drive home the final story points ahead of the PPV and on the whole, were pretty good shows. We got fun matches, one of the best promos in WWE history and a nice return to form from a previous SmackDown superstar who has been missing for a long time. Plus, there’s more NXT goodness to talk about so let’s get into it.

RAW

– Heyman taunts the crowds with a cash in at Extreme Rules from Brock but doesn’t announce which champion he will cash in.

– Drake Maverick reveals he has yet to consummate his marriage and will go the whole night with the 24/7 Title before leaving with his wife. He narrowly avoids being attacked by stars all night, including R Truth and escapes with his title.

– Cesaro defeats No Way Jose via Sharpshooter.

– The Miz & The Usos defeat The Revival & Elias in a two out of three falls tag match, because we still haven’t seen enough of them.

– The Viking Raiders destroy Colin & Devin Justin with Thor’s Hammer. They then beat up a bunch of 24/7 Title chasers.

– Bobby Lashley kills Rey Mysterio and threatens to throw him through an LED board. He changes his mind and just lobs him at a bunch of referees.

– Ricochet defeats Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in separate matches and is then beaten down by AJ Styles ahead of their US Title match on Sunday.

– Drew McIntyre & Shane McMahon defeat Roman Reigns and Gary the GOAT Garbutt via Claymore to Garbutt. Post-match it’s revealed that Garbutt was in fact Cedric Alexander in disguise. This isn’t necessarily a good thing as he was still put down in one move.

– Bayley and Nikki Cross take part in a beat the clock challenge taking on Sarah Logan and Dana Brooke. Cross wins the challenge and gets to pick the stipulation. She picks a two on one handicap match so her and Alexa can become the first co-Women’s Champion. Bayley does not respond well to Nikki’s challenge and attacks her with the Bayley to Belly and an Elbow Drop.

SmackDown

– Kevin Owens interrupts a Dolph Ziggler interview in the car park as he pulls in and hears Ziggler slagging him off. They brawl in the car park until it’s broken up by Shane, who sends Owens home. However, Owens comes back into the stadium to interrupt Shane McMahon’s promo with one of the best rants in a long time. He rails against Shane and the time he keeps taking away from undervalued stars. He’s once again ejected from the building.

– Shinsuke Nakamura destroys Finn Balor via Kinshasa. It’s good to see Nakamura back on TV and with a pretty dominate victory over the IC champion.

– Nikki Cross and Bayley have their contract signing where they argue but don’t fight. Nikki asks Bayley to sit and watch her match with Carmella which she wins with the Purge.

– A tag team summit to preview the three-way SmackDown Tag Titles match see a triple threat match made that pits Otis against Woods and Bryan. Otis wins with a single man version of the Compactor. This segment gets bonus points for Otis copying the New Days tag team titles speech complete with hip thrusts.

– Cesaro is revealed to be Aleister Black’s Extreme Rules opponent in the most Bond Villain-esque way possible. That is going to be a fun as hell match.
– Ember Moon is challenged to a tag match by Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville for next week. She now needs to find a partner.

– Shelton Benjamin still hasn’t remembered how to speak.

– Roman Reigns defeats Dolph Ziggler via Spear despite every bit of interference possible from Shane and the Stooges. Highlight of the match is when Kevin Owens comes out again and hits Shane McMahon with a Stunner. Reigns also pulled off one hell of a Suicide Dive.

NXT

– Show opens with new darker Io Shirai music and a chorus of boos. These continue once the strobe lights are over and Shirai tries to speak. She reiterates that she needs no friends and doesn’t need any of the fans then drops the mic and walks off.

– Dream is holding a press pass where he decides to shut down most questions and insults Roderick Strong when he is suggested as the next contender for the NXT North American Title.

– Damian Priest defeats Blanco Loco via The Reckoning. Nothing to this match really as Priest kills Loco with a bunch of stiff strikes, a Cyclone Big Boot and the Reckoning Rolling Cutter. Another decisive victory for the newly dubbed Archer of Infamy.

– Jordan Myles (ACH) defeats Boa via Midnight Star 450 Splash. Myles, the former ACH and indie/Best of the Super Juniors star took on one of WWE’s Chinese signings in an excellent match which saw Myles full of smiles. Also, Destructo Disk Clothesline… I see that Dragon Ball Z reference Myles.

– In a similar style to Dream earlier in the show, Shayna Baszler shrugs off Mia Yim as a credible contender to her NXT Women’s title.

– KUSHIDA will take on Apollo Crews next week on NXT TV as announced by William Regal.

– Street Profits defeat Lorcan & Burch via Frog Splash. Very fun main event that saw Lorcan and Burch heel it up a bit to show their desperation for the titles. If you want stiff strikes, submissions and tandem wrestling, this is a match for you. Undisputed Era show up to taunt at the end of the match and to show that they want in at those titles.

In Conclusion

So, there you have it, another week down. Extreme Rules looms overhead and it’s looking to be a decent show. The hype is there, the match is there and WWE managed to make RAW and SmackDown entertaining again. They aren’t fully out of crowd apathy yet but they are making ground on proving they can still put on fun programming. Next week we’ll hopefully be talking about the successes of Extreme Rules and the continuation of NXT’s Breakout Tournament. Come on WWE, don’t mess this up.

Share this:

John is a UK based wrestling obsessive who still wants to believe the Bullet Club is fine. He is always tearing the business apart and first realised wrestling was for him when he saw Mankind fall from the top of the cell at King of the Ring 1998.